At Mind, we invest in research and pay attention to developing our practice so that it is up-to-date with the latest evidence. Our evidence base includes published frameworks and documents that guide our practice. You will also find some of the literature published by others that we think is an important reference.
Our approaches to recovery
Mind’s Lived Experience Governance Framework (PDF 3 MB) - Mind recognises the need for inclusive governance structures that embed lived experience at all levels and support peer workforces. Mind’s Lived Experience Governance Framework ensures this in operations, strategy, leadership, and service planning, guiding decision-making and fostering the impact of lived experience governance within the organisation.
Connection and Community (PDF 1.3 MB) - Connection and Community is a vision for Lived Expertise-led services at Mind Australia for five years (2024 – 2029). It outlines the transformative, values-based practice that will shape service delivery and be enabled and authorised by Mind’s groundbreaking Lived Experience Governance Framework.
Mind’s Lived Experience Strategy (PDF 1.95 MB) - Lived experience provides a knowledge base that can support genuine reform within our services, organisation and the mental health sector more broadly. Mind has developed this lived experience strategy to amplify lived expertise as a knowledge base, create a platform for change, to deepen and refine service provision and, to support us to lead best practice. It has been developed and will be guided by people with lived experience.
Mind's Peer Work Framework (PDF 289 KB) - The Mind Peer work framework describes what peer work is, shows the evidence for peer support and why lived experience is important across the organisation. It outlines Mind’s model of peer work (what peer work looks like in practice – including the lived experience knowledge base, peer work values and peer practice principles) and explains how Mind fosters an effective peer workforce.
Mind’s Participation and Co-design Practice Framework (PDF 3.3 MB) - Alongside the history and context, this framework steps through what we can do to create the conditions for successful collaboration with the Mind community. It provides Mind practitioners with case studies and examples of this work and highlights the resources and tools they have available for participation and co-design to be embedded as everyday practice.
Mind Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (PDF 1.2 MB) - Mind is committed to change across our organisation that will support improved outcomes and experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
Mind Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (PDF 2.3 MB) - This Plan builds is the crucial next step in Mind’s strategic vision for inclusive and innovative mental health services.
Mind Diversity and Inclusion Framework (PDF 2.9 MB) - Mind has developed this framework to demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion and guide the way we work. It sets out a range of principles and strategies to ensure our services provide a welcoming environment and experience for everyone.
Mind's approach to recovery oriented practice (PDF 607 KB) or HTML version - This document presents a statement of Mind's approach to recovery and the practice that supports it, describing five key principles of the latter.
Mind Youth Services Framework (PDF 1.8 MB) - This document describes the guiding principles behind Mind’s provision of youth services. View the Mind youth services framework video.
Mind’s approach to working with families and carers (PDF 8.5 MB) - Family-centred and inclusive practice, where families and carers are seen as partners in care, is central to modern mental health policy, practice and service delivery. Mind also responds to the impact of mental ill-health on the wellbeing of families and carers in their own right.
Theoretical approaches underpinning the Mind Youth Residential Rehabilitation model (PDF 146 KB) - Mind’s Youth Residential Rehabilitation (YRR) service model is grounded in the empirical work that documents the unique needs of young people and makes it clear that systems need to change in order to meet them. Research shows a significant rise over the past 25 years in emotional and behavioural difficulties among adolescents.
Establishment of the Mind Recovery College (PDF 285 KB) - This paper provides the relevant information for the establishment of a recovery college as well as some of the issues to be considered in developing the model within an Australian context.
Mind's Research and Evaluation Framework (PDF 5 MB) - Mind is committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of its services to better support improved outcomes for you. It is also committed to influencing the public policy and community attitudes that affect the wellbeing and status of people facing serious mental health-related challenges. This document outlines the research and evaluation framework that helps us to do both.
Discussions on recovery
This page has links to information, research papers and government policies that influence and underpin our delivery of services to clients.
Victorian Government: Framework for recovery-oriented practice – explicitly identifies the principles, capabilities, practices and leadership that should guide the work of the Victorian specialist mental health workforce.
South Australia Government: Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy - provides a framework for the promotion of good mental health and wellbeing in our community and the ongoing reform of our mental health care system.
Western Australia Government: Mental Health 2020: Making it personal and everybody's business - sets out priority areas for action and provides a framework to address them.
Patricia Deegan PhD is a psychologist and researcher. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager and in this seminal paper, Recovery and the conspiracy of hope she describes her own personal journey of recovery, and raises issues about ‘hope-filled environments’. Patricia has for years worked with people with mental disorders to help them get better and lead rewarding lives. Her perspective on this work is outlined in Recovery from mental disorders.
Hopefulness in recovery - Watch Daniel Fisher, Director of the National Empowerment Centre talk about the hopefulness in recovery.
100 ways to support recovery: a guide for mental health professionals - Written by Mike Slade, and published by Rethink in the UK, this book presents suggestions for ways mental health staff can support the recovery of an individual with mental illness. The suggestions for support may also provide useful information for families and friends of people experiencing mental health challenges.